[Eril-l] AI and electronic resources

[Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list]

I agree with this. For the time being, I’ll be treating it like any other clause of our licenses & treat violations as we treat other violations. I don’t really see why clauses about uploading to large language models should be treated differently than other copyright or allowed use clauses in our licenses with vendors.

I *am* interested in the particular language vendors are using for these clauses. Are y’all finding that the vendors write the clauses with the term “AI,” or are they using more specific terms such as “large language models,” which I’m pretty sure is what they generally mean? It worries me a little that the non-specific, fuzzy marketing term “AI” would give them the ability to claim it’s a violation to do any data manipulation or investigation outside their system. There’s a big qualitative difference between “uploaded it to chatgpt so that chatgpt can do their homework” and "my grad student built a little program to do interesting things with this data." It feels like an opportunity for vendors to get away with a new kind of enclosure, by dictating that you can only work within their platforms or environments (possible for an extra annual subscription!).


Jaime Taylor
Discovery & Resource Management Systems Coordinator
W.E.B. Du Bois Library
University of Massachusetts

From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org> On Behalf Of Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list via Eril-l
Sent: Friday, January 9, 2026 2:44 PM
To: Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list <eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>
Subject: Re: [Eril-l] AI and electronic resources

This is an interesting question, I hadn't thought about it, but is it really our responsibility?

I mean if you put up some kind of pop-up that certainly doesn't prevent them from doing it anyway. And I don't see how you would hit all the places they could access an article from - for us, once they have signed in to the system they could access them from LibGuides, Google Scholar, through a Primo search, Browzine, LibKey Nomad, and probably more places. And for us if they are already on campus, for the most part they are automatically authenticated and don't have to sign in.

In theory someone could check out a print book and scan and upload all the contents from that into an AI platform. That wouldn't be legal either, but we couldn't really know that they did it or prevent it.

At what point would the liability fall on the student or other user rather than the library?  Essentially once the user accesses a website they are agreeing to the terms of that website, so shouldn't the databases post thost terms - JSTOR has a popup when you download an article that says:  "Your use of JSTOR indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use and the Privacy Policy."

It seems like the best you could do is place a notice somewhere on your website near the database similar to posting a copyright notice near a copy machine or scanner saying not to do it.



Susan R. Barber
Electronic Resources Coordinator
Paul and Rosemary Trible Library
Christopher Newport University
sbarber at cnu.edu<mailto:sbarber at cnu.edu>
757-594-7046


On Fri, Jan 9, 2026 at 1:53 PM Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list via Eril-l <eril-l at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>> wrote:
Dear All,
Recently our staff were discussing the legal implications of students uploading content from our electronic resources into outside AI platforms.  While this violates copyright it will likely also violate our licensing agreements with vendors.  Our staff attorney suggested adding a popup box that users would need to click to acknowledge that they will not do it somewhere on our website for liability purposes.  We use the Springshare/Libguide platform for our website and resources.  We know that we can’t put a popup or block in all the places online that students click through to get to our resources.  How are other libraries managing this issue?
Replies on or off list would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Kathleen M. Tobolewski, MLS
Metadata and E-Resource Management Librarian
Reeves Memorial Library
Seton Hill University
724-838-2438
ktobolewski at setonhill.edu<mailto:ktobolewski at setonhill.edu>



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